Loaded trucks suspected of forcing their way across Old Rangchang Bridge despite weight ceiling

DIKCHU, 20 Jan: The new Rangchang Bridge on the Singtam-Dikchu road collapsed last month when a vehicle too monstrous in weight and girth [a 48-wheeler] tried to negotiate it. Eight lives, including two pedestrians, were killed in the incident and the outcry was loud. Eventually, the BRO opened the old Rangchang Bridge for traffic, and played over cautious by announcing that traffic would be allowed only after clearance of the district authorities. Over-loaded trucks weighed heavy on everyone’s minds and when the Old Rangchang Bridge was eventually opened for traffic, it was under a 5-tonne max load stipulation. For anyone arriving at the bridge during daytime, this weight ceiling is very strictly implemented, so much so that passengers are made to alight from jeeps and made to walk across, and vehicles, now lighter, driven across. For the past week or so, this weight limit has been blatantly violated by truckers who weight out at a convenient distance during the day and then force their way across the bridge, load and all, after dark. While residents in the area have noticed this, they were suspecting that the trucks were being ‘allowed’ through. When NOW! contacted the ‘traffic controllers’ maintained by BRO at the spot, they dismissed suggestions that they were in cahoots with the truckers and allowing them to slip through at night. They maintain that the trucks arrive in a convoy at night and force their way across. These ‘traffic controllers’, two of them, are obviously in no position to stand up against the truckers with any authority, and one wonders here why a stricter watch is not maintained at this spot.